\u201cNana, how is suicide okay for some people, but not for people like me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eva Andrade\u2019s teenage grandson, who had previously been hospitalized for suicidal ideation, had asked his grandmother that question recently: Hawaii became the seventh state to legalize physician-assisted suicide April 5, a year after a previous legislative attempt.<\/p>\n
Proponents claimed the law would give people with terminal illnesses (and a diagnosis of less than six months to live) the personal autonomy to make that decision. The teenager did not see why the circumstances made a big difference for one group having the legal right to end life on their own terms, while others did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a 15-year-old child making this connection on his own, just based on the conversations he was hearing,\u201d Andrade said.<\/p>\n
Andrade, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Catholic Conference, told the Register that the \u201cOur Care, Our Choices Act,\u201d which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2019, threatens negative social repercussions and will have a \u201cvery detrimental effect on our community.\u201d<\/p>\n